General (5)
Jennifer L. Hall
From:Teame Ozeqbe <
Sent:Tuesday, September 22, 2020 10:37 AM
To:teameozeqbe@gmail.com
Subject:No prop 16
Dear city council member,
Lately there were many rallies organized by residents throughout California to oppose proposition 16. Civil Rights
activists, law professors, elected officials, students and parents all spoke passionately against Prop 16 in those rallies.
Why was that? I learned that Prop 16 was proposed by the state assembly woman Shirley Webber, aiming to repeal Prop
209, part of California constitution, which clearly prohibits the state from discriminating against, or granting preferential
treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of
public employment, public education, or public contracting. Yet the state wants to repeal it. If Prop 16 passes in the Nov
election, it means we the Californians allow the state to discriminate against all of us based on our race, gender or color
and allow special treatment by the state in college admissions, jobs and contracting. This is totally unconstitutional and
against the American value of equal rights.
Furthermore I have learnt that the ballot label was written in a very misleading fashion. It says Prop 16 allows diversity
as a factor in public employment, education and contracting decisions. The legislators are playing word games with the
voters. They replaced the word “discrimination” with the word “diversity”. This is discrimination in the name of
“diversity”.
Let’s all not be misled by the ballot label. We should all say no to discrimination and most of all discrimination from the
state level. Please vote NO on Prop 16 in Nov!
Thank you.
Teame Ozeqbe
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